An Interactive Way To Learn
by StarWarrior72
Summary: Fieldtrips. They are, you know. Interactive. And learning. All in one. Teachers do sometimes have trouble directing what you learn, of course.


"Uncle Owen didn't want me to come," Luke confided under his breath.

"He didn't want you to come?" Windy asked, sounding amazed.

"He said I'm behind on my chores."

"No way! But you've been so busy with chores you've hardly been to Toche station all week!"

"I know," Luke answered, "It's not even harvest. He's got me _polishing vaporators_, is that stupid or what?"

Windy whacked him, "Shh, it's about to start."

Luke turned back up to the stage. He and his classmates were seated on the floor of the auditorium, along the aisles. The room was so full, Luke couldn't imagine that it fit fire regulations, but no one seemed to mind. Luke himself was sitting about halfway up the leftmost aisle, but he squinted down at the tiny shapes on the stage and waited impatiently for them to turn on the screens that would allow the whole audience to see them clearly. His school had brought all of their students to Coruscant to see an imperial ceremony, and Luke was buzzing with excitement. It was by far and wide, the most dramatic attempt at a field trip the school had ever taken.

Suddenly, Luke caught sight of one of the distant people and elbowed Windy in the ribs, a little harder than he'd meant to.

"Ow!" Windy protested, "What was that for?"

"Windy, I think that's Lord Vader!" Luke whispered, pointing down at him.

Windy whacked his arm down, "Don't _point!_"

"Please, he can't see me from way down there!" Luke said, but he thought that Vader's helmet had turned to him, and as the screens finally turned on, his suspicions were confirmed.

"He _knows_ things," Windy said nervously, "People who mock him never live much longer."

"Well, good thing I wasn't mocking him, then."

"Shh! Do you want to get yourself in more trouble than you're already in?"

Luke rolled his eyes, and reverted his gaze to the screens. Windy could be such a worrier! He wished he'd been able to sit with Biggs instead, but their 'seats' were according to grade, and Biggs was five years older than he.

The babble in the auditorium was dying down, and Luke watched as a self-important looking man took the mike and waited for silence. When the room was quiet, Luke could hear Vader's breathing from all the way down on the stage. He turned to the Dark Lord, and the man was still gazing up at him. He fought down a shiver. He wasn't Windy, he didn't think that Vader would kill him just for being interested in him, but the way he was staring at Luke… it was enough to make anyone uncomfortable.

The pompous imperial gave what he clearly imagined to be a dignified cough, and the last few murmurs died. Luke leaned forwards, eagerly awaiting what he had to say, ridiculous self-importance or not.

"This Empire Day," he began, "We celebrate the triumph of the Empire over the treacherous Jedi Order. We remember the lives of the many brave men who gave themselves to the greater good, and we give thanks that their numbers were not larger thanks to the army of clones who adequately replaced human soldiers."

Luke bit his lip, leaning back. That was never said back on Tatooine. They usually thanked the clones who had given themselves as well, sometimes even naming a few of the notable ones. He didn't like how this imperial had spoken of them as weapons. A previous year, his school had even brought in a veteran clone to speak to them, and he had seemed as human as anyone.

No one else seemed bothered by it, though, and the imperial passed the mike to a younger imperial standing behind him, who stepped forwards, and with greater enthusiasm began speaking, "It can be hard to believe that only fifteen years ago, our galaxy was gripped in a bloody war between the Jedi and the Separatists. We have raised a new generation of Imperial citizens, and I believe there are some in our audience who don't remember the Jedi and the Old Republic."

Luke and some of his braver classmates nodded.

The man smiled, "This is our greatest triumph, but we are still in dangerous times. The Rebel Alliance has become a growing threat, and if they are not beaten, we may fall into war again. The Empire is trying at all times to remove this threat, but remember that the clone army is weakening, and we are falling back on human soldiers. If you are interested in joining the Academy, or looking into donating DNA for a new wave of clones, there will be booths set up as you leave."

Luke remembered the half set up booths, and wondered if the Empire would be interested in any of _his_ DNA for their army. He glanced down at his arms, crossed atop his knees. He wasn't really anything special, but maybe they weren't looking for anything in particular.

The pompous imperial had taken the mike back, and Luke felt disappointed. The younger imperial had given, by far, the more interesting speech, "For today's ceremony, we have an unusual element," he said, and Luke noticed some shifting in the earlier rows. Curious, he craned his neck, and watched as a person was shunted onto the stage. They looked female to Luke, but he couldn't recognize the species.

"Today we have with us Ahsoka Tano," the man said proudly, "A Jedi apprentice from the Clone Wars. Ahsoka was the apprentice of the enemy's greatest fighter, Anakin Skywalker."

Luke missed the next sentence, so surprised was he at the words. But, no, Anakin Skywalker, the Jedi couldn't possibly be Luke's father. As he was shaking his head and telling himself that there must be a number of Anakin Skywalkers in the galaxy, he noticed that Windy was staring at him, and so were some of his other classmates.

"_No,"_ he whispered to Windy, "_Stop staring. If anything will get us in trouble, it's that."_

Windy seemed to see what he meant, because he turned his gaze back to the stage and, one at a time, the others did as well.

"Tano is responsible for the deaths of countless clones," the imperial was continuing, "And a great number of humans as well."

Ahsoka Tano seemed to be arguing this at the top of her lungs, but Luke couldn't hear her properly, and noted that she was trying to swipe the mike out of the man's hand. Just as Luke was starting to smile in amusement at her attempts, one of the guards hit her in the side of the head with a stunstick, and her knees buckled. Luke felt a twinge of pity. He desperately wanted to jump up from where he sat uselessly at Windy's side and help her back to her feet. He wanted to hear what she had to say for herself, and he thought it a misstep that they hadn't given her a chance to defend herself.

"Ahsoka Tano will be executed for her crimes, and it was thought fitting that it should happen at today's ceremony."

Ahsoka had managed to get herself up onto her knees again, and seemed to be trying to stand. Luke felt queasy. He didn't like or trust this situation. It seemed barbaric to execute the woman in front of an auditorium of students, and there was an awkward shuffling about him, as though others agreed with him. He felt sorry for her, dragged up in front of all of them, and treated as some sort of exhibit.

Vader started to move towards her, and Luke realized that this must have been why he was here, to execute her, and to keep her in check if she tried to escape. Ahsoka was backing away from him as fast as she could, towards the man with the mike, and as she was about to bump into him, and unseen force ripped the mike from his hands and before Ahsoka.

"Master!" she said, "Master, don't kill me!"

Luke blinked in confusion. If she was calling Vader 'Master', did that mean that…?

"Master Skywalker! It was you who taught me to be a Jedi, you know why this is wrong!"

Vader didn't speak, but the microphone flew from where it had hovered, across the room, and Luke thought that it must have been Vader's powers that had caused that to happen. Vader took his lightsaber from his belt and activated it, the red blade dangerously close to both Ahsoka and the imperial.

As Vader raised his weapon to strike, Luke found himself on his feet, "Don't!" he shouted, "You can't!"

"Luke!" Windy whimpered before fainting dead away on the floor.

Luke had expected the room to become even more silent as everyone turned to stare at him in horror, but, quite the reverse, his shout was met by others.

"Death to the Empire!" someone shouted, and suddenly the stands were alive with blasterfire, and half of the crowd was on its feet. As the other half realized what had happened, the rest got up and began trying to push its way to the back of the room and out the doors. Luke was still riveted on the stage. When he had shouted, Vader's blow had missed it's mark, and his blade had plummeted instead into the Imperial behind Ahsoka.

Ahsoka seemed to have found her own lightsaber, and far from attacking Vader, she had begun attacking the rest of the imperials, and, strangest of all, Vader wasn't interfering.

Luke shook himself back into action, and he grabbed Windy's unconscious form and began trying to drag him out the back doors. Now, however, there was two-way traffic at the doors as the audience tried to get out, and, to Luke's horror, stormtroopers started to pour in. He dragged his friend into one of the back rows of seats and hid him under the seats. He stayed crouched beside him until, suddenly, a person in civilian clothing, holding a blaster tightly in one hand, fell before him. For a moment, Luke just stared at his dead eyes, and then he grabbed the blaster.

He stood up again, holding the weapon tightly in both hands. That man wouldn't have died if he hadn't shouted! This was all his fault! He found himself firing at the stormtroopers, taking them out as they walked through the door. It was all he could manage to keep his hands from shaking.

Suddenly, Vader was standing in front of him, and Luke stared up into his mask, sure that he was about to be killed. Vader's blade came sweeping down at him, and he closed his eyes, waiting for death, but to his amazement, it didn't come. When he opened his eyes, Vader had turned around and was batting the blaster beams away from Luke.

One unceremonious, but surprisingly gentle, kick from Vader, and Luke was lying on his stomach right next to Windy again. He was too frightened and confused to get back up. He considered trying to squirm down the aisle and into another, this time not drawing attention to himself, but Windy was still lying by his side, and he couldn't bring himself to leave him.

Instead, he tried to make himself very small, and hoped that Vader would forget about him. He lay perfectly still and waited. He didn't know what Vader planned to do with him, but Vader had saved his life, and that had to be a good sign.

The blasterfire seemed to be lessening, the intervals between longer, until the only sound in the room was that of the two lightsabers.

Finally, they were silenced as well, and something was holding the front of Luke's shirt. He was yanked to his feet, and then right up into the air before he could so much as protest. He found himself staring into Vader's mask again.

"What is your name?" Vader snarled.

"Luke," Luke said quickly, "Luke Skywalker."

Vader sighed noisily, and Luke smiled nervously, "Put me down?" he asked hopefully.

Vader gently lowered him back to the ground. Luke had never imagined he could be so glad to find himself on his feet.

"You're alive," Vader said, and Luke thought he could detect amazement in his voice.

"I'm surprised too," Luke said. Vader didn't seem to want to hurt him, and he hoped that he could keep it that way, as long as he kept talking.

"After all these years, I've finally found you."

Luke bit his lip, he had to ask, but he was afraid to hear the answer, "Are you my…" he couldn't finish the question.

Vader nodded, though, and Luke felt immensely relieved, "I'm your father."

At the understated words, Luke slipped into one of the seats, feeling stunned, and unable to accept what had happened. He looked back up at Vader and could only look away again. He sat in silence for several moments before his father gently nudged Windy with his boot.

"A friend of yours?"

Luke nodded, "Yeah."

Vader bent and lifted Windy out from under the seats, setting him next to Luke. At the movement, Windy awoke. He took one glance at Vader, and promptly fainted again.

"He's not the bravest person I've ever met," Luke admitted.

"I should hope not. Do you feel strong enough to stand?"

Luke nodded, and stood up. Ahsoka, his father's apprentice, walked up beside them, and slung Windy's unconscious form over her shoulder.

"What happened?" Luke asked.

Vader seemed to be at a loss for words, but Ahsoka quickly filled the gap, "I'm guessing that the way they talked about the clones, who were his friends, the things I said to him, and his long-lost son popping up from the audience to yell that he shouldn't hurt me may have changed his mind about some things."

Luke looked up at his father, who simply nodded.

Luke let out a shaky sigh, which ended on a nervous laugh, "I'm glad," he said, "Very, very glad."

"As am I," Vader said.


End file.
